NORTHAMPTON — Smith College is the latest higher education institution to announce it will offer free tuition for all undergraduate students if their family income is below $150,000 a year.
Smith officials said the initiative, which is called The Next 150 Pledge and begins with the 2026-2027 school year, aims to strengthen the college’s commitment to access, opportunity and academic excellence for the next generation. The announcement comes during the college’s yearlong 150th anniversary celebration.
“When the cost of college is beyond so many students and their families, Smith is committed to keeping higher education within reach,” said Smith College President Sarah Willie-LeBreton in a statement. “I am thrilled that in the same year Smith celebrates its 150th anniversary, we are also able to announce The Next 150 Pledge, an initiative both reflective of our founding mission and invested in access to an extraordinary education for every one of our admitted students.”
With this change, Smith will offer free tuition for domestic and international students from families earning less than $150,000 a year and whose household assets are less than $200,000, starting in fall of 2026 for incoming and returning students. Each student will be assessed individually to ensure they are offered the proper assistance needed.
Smith already offers a loan-free financial aid package and provides $1,000 startup grants for high-need incoming students. The college eliminated loans from its undergraduate financial aid packages for those students receiving institutional need-based aid, replacing those funds with these grants.
Smith becomes the first women’s college in the nation to offer this kind of aid program, combining free tuition with loan-free aid. The Next 150 Pledge is made possible through the college’s endowment, alumnae and donors. It is estimated that more than 75% of families in the United States can qualify for free tuition through the program.
“This policy is not only about reducing financial barriers, but also making our financial aid policy more transparent and easily understandable for low and middle-income families,” said Joanna May, vice president for enrollment in a statement. “We hope this will open Smith’s doors wider than ever before to exceptional students who are ready to change the world.”
The initiative launches at a time when undergraduate students have expressed worry about access and the affordability of a higher education. Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe college is not accessible to most people, according to a 2025 survey by the Lumina Foundation.
Smith estimates about a third of currently enrolled students would qualify from the program. Smith enrolls more than 2,500 students with the undergraduate tuition for the current school year costing $67,140, according to Smith’s website. Housing and dining fees cost about $23,360, which is not covered through the tuition-free initiative.
Last academic year, 61% of Smith students received a need-based grant and more than $110 million in financial aid was awarded.
According to reporting from the New York Times, tuition-free initiatives have been around for decades. However, universities have either increased the number of students eligible or made these programs more public.
For instance, in Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke College launched the same program last month called the Mount Holyoke Commitment for students living in the U.S. Tufts University also announced it would offer the same tuition-free promise starting fall 2026.
The UMass campuses and Brandies University cover tuition for all undergraduate students whose families make under $75,000. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology waved tuition for undergraduate students families making under $200,000. Harvard offers the same program as MIT.